"I like the idea of using algae for fuel since nowadays you can see that the air is just polluted as opposed to using algae it has a net pollution of zero so just really seeing it improve the city," Engel explained.

Evangelina Paoluccio is the team's mentor and an engineer. She says she's schooled them on the science but it's the girls' imagination that has put them in the winner's circle such as using the ocean as a power source.

"They did some research on that and there's some technology right now on harnessing the energy from the ocean so they implemented that in their model," Paoluccio said.

As the Central Valley correspondent, Rich Ibarra covers San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Merced counties, along with the foothill areas including Tuolumne and Calaveras counties. He covers politics, the economy and issues affecting the region. Read Full Bio